La Cueva High School students are helping make a child’s wish come true.
They presented a $6,000 check to Make-A-Wish® New Mexico during a March 28 assembly in the school gym. Christine Loidolt, Crossroads counselor and sponsor of the school’s Make-A-Wish club, explained that the club just recently learned a little bit about 10-year-old Wish Child Aaliyah. Besides wanting to go on a shopping spree at Target, Aaliyah also likes eating at the Cheesecake Factory and playing Mario Cart.
“Our Wish Kid’s wish was to have a shopping spree, and although she cannot physically be with us, we will be sharing a short one-minute video of her story,” Loidolt said in an email prior to the event. Loidolt said she became involved in Make-A-Wish because she wanted to do “something more student- and community-centered” and wanted students to see her as someone else other than the “drug counselor.”
After the video was shown to students and staff during Monday’s assembly, the LCHS Make-A-Wish club presented the $6,000 check to Make-A-Wish New Mexico President and CEO Sarah Lister.
“You know a wish is more than just a singular moment in time. This wish will stay with Aaliyah for the rest of her life. It will stay with her family and her health care providers. You truly are making a difference in your community,” Lister said. “We hear time and again from our doctors who work with our Wish Kids that they see such improvement in their mental health and their physical health as they’re going through the wish process because you gave them the gift of hope. We are so grateful for everything you do. Please know that you are making a difference.”
Loidolt said she made a pact with her two presidents, Abi Burgmaier and Ella Morton, to ensure they raised the money for Aaliyah’s shopping spree. “With the support of our club, students and staff at La Cueva, along with our amazing administration, we were able to meet our goal.”